I went straight to my room. The more I thought about our meeting, the more I wanted to strangle her! Who did she think she was saying something like that? I was glad that I didn't have to see her again. She must have her hands full with all her“important” students. Good riddance.
Around one o'clock, Becky and Sammy found me, still in our room.
“Oh, here you are.”Sammy’s smile vanished when she saw the look on my face. “Oh crap, what did she say?”
I wanted to punch the wall out of anger. “Just leave it. It doesn't matter.”
Both girls sat down on my bed, clearly interested, but neither wanted to be the first to start the conversation.
“She's such a snob.” I sniffed, sick of all the silence.
“I told you she was vain.” Sammy's upper lip twitched in disgust.
“Look, nobody likes her very much, except those that she knows are destined to do great things,” Becky said. “She treats their sessions like they're the highlights of her day.”
“What did she say?” Sammy handed me a hanky.
“She said that I don't matter, because my dad was a dragon, and dragon children are not destined to wear the mark. I still don't know what that means.” I sighed and wiped off a tear that had escaped onto my cheek.
“The truth?” Becky said.
I nodded, ready to hear what she had to say.
“You're the first human that bares the mark whose father was a dragon. It has never happened before, and some of the professors here at Dragonia feel that Master Longwei is wasting his time.”
“Becky!” Sammy yelled, clearly stunned at her confession.
“I didn't say I felt that way! I'm just telling her how it is.”
“I still don't understand.”
“Dragonians have human parents, Elena.”
“Let me try.” Sammy touched Becky's hand softly. “Having a dragon for a father means that you have his DNA. Although you don't have a dragon form, you still carry the gene. A part of you is dragon, and that's the reason you can't become a Dragonian.”
As I let their words sink in, it was all slowly starting to make sense.
“There are a lot of dragon offspring, Elena. When a dragon falls in love with a human, their children are human and never bear the mark.”
“There are others here who aren't born with the mark, and nobody tells them they don't belong,” I said stubbornly.
“Their daddies paid a crap load of money for them to be here. Only the students with the mark are able to attend Dragonia Academy free of charge,” Becky said.
“That's why they don't think I belong here, because my father didn't pay?”
“No, Elena, it's because your father was a dragon. They feel that Master Longwei is taking a chance he shouldn't. I even overheard that some of the parents with non-gifted children, who have been on the waitlist, got really pissed when he let you in. They had this huge discussion arguing the fact you'll never ascend and that your mark it's just a birth defect,” Becky said.
“It's what she said too.”
“Did her eyes glow when she said it?” Sammy asked.
I shook my head, lied and pretended I had no idea what she was talking about. “Her eyes glow?”I wasn’t ready to share that part with them just yet. I was still trying to figure out what she’d meant.
“Yes, if not, you don't pay any attention. She talks a lot of shit.”
Becky raised her eyes at Sammy's remark and I giggled, remembering our conversation about how much Sammy liked the Viden.
“Do you guys think I'm wasting my time being here?”
“Hell no!” both shouted in unison.
“Sammy's right.” Becky put her hand on my shoulder. “Only pay attention to what she says when her eyes light up and when her hair blows.”
I sighed. I was lucky to have roommates who understood. Both were incredibly jealous when I told them that she didn't want to see me again.
“I would give my left boob for her to say those words to me,” Sammy said, “but I guess being the Rubicon's sister, she expects great things from me too.”
Shaking off the stress of the whole encounter we went to lunch and found a table inside the cafeteria. It wasn't long before Lucian plunged himself down on the remaining pillow. “So how was your first time with the Viden?”
“Shhh, we don't mention her,” Sammy whispered.
His smile disappeared. “That bad?”
“It's fine, I just didn't like the way she treated me.”
“Elena, if her hair didn't blow and her eyes didn't shine, then you don't pay attention to the witch,” he said, echoing Sammy’s words from before.
I gave him a soft smile.
When the bell rang for class, I felt better.